Cheating

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CHEATING - PAGE 2

A Langley Air Force Base master sergeant was charged Monday with the 1986 murder of his wife, a crime he committed to cover up a nationwide cheating scam, a private investigator on the case said. William T. Lipscomb, 33, of the 400 block of Joseph Topping Drive in Poquoson, was charged with murder and obstruction of justice, said Lt. Col. Thomas L. Sack, Langley's public affairs officer. Lipscomb is a native of West Point, where his grandfather still lives, said the victim's mother, Nadine Adams of Houston.

Holly Hobbs got the bad news in Ecuador, on her way with Jamestown High School classmates for a spring break trip to the Galapagos Islands. She was on the phone with her mother. Near the end of the conversation her mom said, "Oh, by the way..." Holly recalls, then told her she'd killed the editorial Holly had written for the school newspaper on a cheating incident involving National Honor Society students at Jamestown. Holly, a senior, is editor-in-chief of the paper, The Eagle Eye. Her mom, Jeanne Hobbs, is the Eye's faculty advisor.

Darrell Norton and Christie Harner are ready to present their cases to the judges. If everything goes well, their scientific proof of the effects of cheating and acid rain will be impressive to give them the edge against their competitors at the Tidewater Regional Science Fair. As Isle of Wight Public Schools' Best-in-Show winners, they will represent the district at the regional meet when it gets under way Saturday at Lakeland High School in Suffolk. Darrell, 17, a Smithfield High School junior, won the senior division Best-in-Show award for his project, "The Success of Cheating."

TODAY ASCIICHAR_e1 S QUESTION: In which professional sport is the officiating/umpiring the most inconsistent and frustrating? (Poll closes at 5 p.m. Thursday.) PREVIOUS QUESTION: In general, do sports authorities do too little, too much or just the right amount to curtail cheating? 56.1 % Too little 22.8 % The right amount OTHER RESPONSES: Who cares if they cheat? 14%; Too much 7% Total Responses: 57 We want to know what you think. Give your opinion at dailypress.

It was disturbing to hear of a recent report on cheating by high school students. Paw Prints, the student newspaper at Tabb High School in York County, surveyed 75 students, and all but one said they have cheated or given answers to other students. The lone holdout would surely be a candidate for Diogenes' lantern, or the modern equivalent, perhaps a VCR. It is not our intent to single out Tabb; we doubt the results would be much different if any other school were surveyed. But we are dismayed as we contemplate a society in which young people feel pressured to pursue its rewards by cheating.

Hampton school officials are among many considering new rules on student cell phones. Parents want to be able to talk to their kids. Kids want to be able to talk to their friends. School administrators want to keep safety in mind but also keep classrooms from becoming a cacophony of ring tones. School systems in the region and nationwide are grappling with how to craft policies that balance parents' concerns with technology that make it easier to use cell phones to cheat. Hampton's School Board is scheduled to decide tonight whether student cell phones will be confined to lockers and cars to end classroom disruptions and reduce the temptation to cheat.

Cheating Internet may make it easy; it can't make it right Eight students in an advanced placement science class, including four National Honor Society members, were caught cheating at Jamestown High School when, belying their supposed intelligence, they copied some work from the Internet and turned it in as their own. It was a dumb and dishonest thing to do. Dumb? When eight students turn in exactly the same work to the same teacher, that's dumb. Dishonest? Cheating is cheating.

NASCAR's top cop has warned teams that cheaters will pay more than ever this season. Gary Nelson, the Winston Cup director, already has fined teams $90,300 for cheating during Daytona 500 preparations. He promised no letup. "We've sent a message that if these fines aren't enough, we'll keep raising them," he said. "We intend to get their attention, so we won't put a ceiling on it." So far this week: The Bill Davis-owned team was fined $35,100 for a hydraulic system that adjusted the rear deck of their Pontiac.

It will be forever known as The Inspection, given capital-letter status because it was a special event. Seldom has a Late Model Stock Car gotten an inspection like Danny Edwards' No. 26 after the May 30 race at Langley Speedway. After his third consecutive victory and sixth overall, officials figured it was time they gave his car the once-over. Except they went over it more than once. "I've heard of closer inspections," Edwards said Thursday, "but I've never seen one. Then, after doing the car that night, they gave the engine the same kind of look three weeks later."